Adept Technology Group agrees £50m sale

Recommended takeover by Wavenet would create a £200m-revenue player

AIM-listed unified comms and managed services provider Adept Technology Group has agreed to sell up to private equity-backed peer Wavenet in a £50.3m deal.

The deal, which represents a 75 per cent premium on Adept's closing share price yesterday, was confirmed in a stock exchange announcement this afternoon.

Tunbridge Wells-based Microsoft and Avaya partner Adept (whose CEO Phil Race is pictured above) noted that the weak macroeconomic outlook in the UK "is placing significant pressure on many smaller quoted companies".

Wavenet saw an opportunity to acquire a complementary company like Adept in what remains a "diverse and consolidated" UK technology managed services industry, the announcement added.

Ranking 60th in CRN's recent Top VARs 2023 report, Adept turned over £68.1m in its fiscal 2022 and employs 340 staff.

The deal, Wavenet's fifth in less than two years under private equity backer Macquarie, would propel the Solihull-based Cisco, Microsoft and Mitel partner's pro-forma annual revenues to over £200m. Wavenet actually ranked slightly behind Adept in Top VARs as recent acquisitions including Excell and OGL didn't register any revenues in its most recent annual accounts.

Adept's directors intend to recommend unanimously that its shareholders approve the all-cash deal.

"Whilst we believe that the Adept platform can deliver long-term growth and profitability, we also recognise that uncertainties and risks exist in the short to medium term which impact Adept's ability to optimise growth as a stand-alone quoted entity," Adept chairman Ian Fishwick said.

"We acknowledge the additional commercial benefits which could be obtained as part of a larger, well-funded group, and believe the combination of Adept with Wavenet will enable the next phase of Adept's growth to be strongly supported."

Wavenet CEO Bill Dawson added: "I am delighted to announce the proposed combination of the Adept business with the Wavenet Group. I have huge respect for the leadership of Ian Fishwick and the significant achievements of the Adept team.

"They have created a leading AIM-quoted managed service provider delivering to a variety of top tier clients."